How quickly do marine microorganisms respond to salinity stress? Our experiments with the calcifying marine plankton Emiliania huxleyi show that growth and cell morphology responded to salinity stress within as little as 24–48 hours, demonstrating that morphology and calcification are sensitive to salinity over a range of timescales. Our results have implications for understanding the short-term role of E. huxleyi in biogeochemical cycles and in size-based paleoproxies for salinity.

This paper describes new humidity measurements that have been performed with the humidity instruments of the MSL, Mars 2020 and ExoMars missions. Special facilities are needed in order to create Martian conditions and a measurement campaign was performed at DLR to obtain data sets for REMS-H, MEDA HS and METEO-H instruments. The results from this campaign have improved the humidity data we receive from MEDA HS/Perseverance, and it can further improve the existing Martian relative humidity data.

This study combines a variety of geophysical measurements in front of and beneath the Ekström Ice Shelf in order to identify and interpret geomorphological evidences of past ice sheet flow, extent and retreat. The maximal extent of grounded ice in this region was 11 km away from the continental shelf break. The thickness of palaeo-ice on the calving front around the LGM was estimated to be at least 305 to 320 m. We provide essential boundary conditions for palaeo-ice-sheet models.

How much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt and how quickly it will happen when average global temperatures exceed 2 °C is currently unknown. Given the far-reaching and international consequences of Antarctica’s future contribution to global sea level rise, the SWAIS 2C Project was developed in order to better forecast the size and timing of future changes.

This study investigates the climatic mechanism that controlled the deposition of organic matter in the South Atlantic Cape Basin during the Early Cretaceous. The presented geochemical and climate modeling data suggest that fluctuations in riverine nutrient supply were the main driver of organic carbon burial on timescales < 1 Myr. Our results have implications for the understanding of Cretaceous atmospheric circulation patterns and climate-land-ocean interactions in emerging ocean basins.